Education Can Be Fun!

Font creator

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 11:57:00 -0400

My school has a fleet of iPads available.

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 11:57:32 -0400

..and no one on the schedule. Translation: no one knows what to do with them.

Nor do I, but I want. So, education: do you have ideas to share?

I’d suggest Alchemy (mixing elements like fire and water game) and the Where’s My Water/Where’s My Perry apps (solving puzzles with water). Does anyone else have any ideas?

firstbook: Nelson Mandela’s words painted on a wall in this...

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 12:00:31 -0400

firstbook:

Nelson Mandela’s words painted on a wall in this school in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

This.

Google Course Builder

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 08:41:00 -0400

Google Course Builder :

holtthink:

Google takes on Moodle, Blackboard, iTunes U and other MOOC builders by creating its own course builder. Time will tell if it takes hold, and Google is not one to shy away from releasing something only to slam it closed a few years (or months) later. There may be some hesitation to use this simply because of the reputation Google has for closing things they do not deem successes. Also, how does this match with their business model? Will K12 courses have ads for instance?

The tech specs alone (You should be a webmaster) is enough to scare 99.9% of K12 out of the building.

Here is a video about the whole thing:

Course Builder is our experimental first step in the world of online education. It packages the software and technology we used to build our Power Searching with Google online course. We hope you will use it to create your own online courses, whether they’re for 10 students or 100,000 students. You might want to create anything from an entire high school or university offering to a short how-to course on your favorite topic.

Course Builder contains software and instructions for presenting your course material, which can include lessons, student activities, and assessments. It also contains instructions for using other Google products to create a course community and to evaluate the effectiveness of your course. To use Course Builder, you should have some technical skills at the level of a web master. In particular, you should have some familiarity with HTML and JavaScript.

This is a fantastic idea! What would you do with this?

Back to school

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 11:54:27 -0400

So, how would you introduce yourself to your new students at the beginning of the year?

mikebyster: Visual Proof of the Pythagorean Theorem! A simple...

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 11:44:46 -0400

mikebyster:

Visual Proof of the Pythagorean Theorem!

A simple animation visually explaining Pythagoras’ Theorem.

It would be interesting to get pupils to make their own animation, either through stop motion or with different images in paint, turning it into a gif for various mathematical rules.

Thoughts?

gjmueller: Resting After Learning Aids Memory A new study...

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 11:39:19 -0400

gjmueller:

Resting After Learning Aids Memory

A new study suggests that maybe all they really need to do to cement new learning is to sit and close their eyes for a few minutes. Psychological scientist Michaela Dewar, Ph.D., and her colleagues show that memory can be boosted by taking a brief wakeful rest after learning something verbally new.

“Our findings support the view that the formation of new memories is not completed within seconds. Indeed, our work demonstrates that activities that we are engaged in for the first few minutes after learning new information really affect how well we remember this information after a week,” says Dewar.

photo via flickr:CC | PatrickYHC

This sounds like a fantastic excuse to have the kids play heads down, thumbs up at the end of every lesson.

Excellent website for learning languages

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 11:49:44 -0400

Excellent website for learning languages:

I have discovered this excellent website for learning languages for free.

You can learn German, French, Spanish (and if you speak Spanish, English) for free. It gives you practical tasks for learning the languages, has a bright interface and allows you to test your knowledge along the way.

Definitely a website that it could be good to allow your students to access to improve their languages. You could even have competitions as it tracks their progress.

Age range: 7 years - 70 years.

Planning: Little planning required - all it asks is for an email address and username, and most students have email addresses now.

Have you got any other free resources for learning languages online?

Outdoor play dying out?

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 11:53:35 -0400

Outdoor play dying out?:

The BBC things outdoor play is dying out, which is sad to think about. Children spend far too much time on computers and watching TV nowadays.

Fears over safety and traffic are preventing children playing outdoors, research for Play England suggests.

Almost half of parents (49%) said their children did not play outside because of fears about “stranger danger”.

The survey of 1,000 parents found nearly a third (31%) said their child did not play outside the house because of fears of an accident or injury.

The poll was released to mark Playday 2012, an annual campaign day aimed at encouraging play.

The survey found almost half (43.6%) of today’s parents believed their own children had less time to play than they did.

In a bid to boost play, community organisers across the UK are organising around 500 different events for half a million children and their families, focusing on the theme “Get out and Play”.

How much play is enough?

The government recommends young people get one hour of physical activity a day
This activity should be of at least moderate intensity so they work up a sweat
Twice a week this should include activities to improve bone health, muscle strength and flexibility

Source: BBC Health

The organisers, Play England, Play Scotland, Play Wales and PlayBoard Northern Ireland, have been running the campaign for 25 years.

The aim is to raise awareness of children’s right to play and the importance of play for their health, wellbeing and happiness.

There is a particular focus this year on the benefits of outdoor play.

Cath Prisk, director of Play England, said: “Playing outside should be an everyday event for all children.

“If we want to foster the next generation of Olympians and sports stars, then we need children with confidence, who love being active and are confident in tackling challenges.

“If parents are too afraid to let their children play out… then we as a society need to address this fear.

“Whether that’s a community, living in a cul-de-sac agreeing children will be playing out everyday, a street applying to the council to close the road for play regularly, or residents volunteering to help local play projects reach more children, we can all do our bit.”

Assembling a new teacher care package

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 11:58:49 -0400

tomesawayfromhome:

Now that the gelato has arrived, I don’t have to stick close to home.

Since my BIL’s girlfriend is going to start her first teaching job in two weeks, and she has no idea what will be in her classroom, supply-wise, I thought that I’d put together a bag of useful things that she might not know yet that she needs (so meta!).

She’s going to be teaching ninth grade physical science, and she lives locally, so I don’t have to ship things anywhere, I can just deliver the goodies next time I see her.

So far my list consists of:

Expo dry erase markers (with pretty colors, not just red, black, blue, and green)

Sticky notes

Chunky pink erasers

Pencils and pens

What else should be in her new teacher care package?

Automatic pencil sharpener, mug for hot drinks, smiley face stickers, a diary/planner, staples, paperclips, pritt stick. Any other ideas?

We're all going on a summer holiday.

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 11:47:00 -0400

For the parents out there, how do you keep your kids occupied throughout the summer holidays?

Reblog with your favourite thing to do?

Bullying

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 12:00:18 -0400

A teacher in New York was teaching her class about bullying and gave them the following exercise to perform. She had the children take a piece of paper and told them to crumple it up, stamp on it and really mess it up but do not rip it.

Then she had them unfold the paper, smooth it out and look at how scarred and dirty is was. She then told them to tell it they’re sorry. Now even though they said they were sorry and tried to fix the paper, she pointed out all the scars they left behind. And that those scars will never go away no matter how hard they tried to fix it.

That is what happens when a child bully’s another child, they may say they’re sorry but the scars are there forever. The looks on the faces of the children in the classroom told her the message hit home. Pass it on or better yet, if you’re a parent or a teacher, do it with your child/children.

artseducationforyouth: Natural Dream Catchers Lesson Plan...

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 12:00:44 -0400

artseducationforyouth:

Natural Dream Catchers Lesson Plan (Multiple Day Lesson)

Audience: Middle School are or older

Collaboration with Arts, History, Science, Fitness and Parks/Rec

This lesson 1st starts with a science lesson and collection of branches and sticks that are bendable from a local park or around your location. The amount of science you include is up to the teacher or you can talk about the services the Park offers. You can talk about trees and plants are your class takes a nature walk. (Day 1)

You can take a Day to teach your class about the history of Dream Catchers. There is a lot of data online or you can ask me for my worksheets and collected data. (Day 2) You can add science here , as well if you talk about the dye process for the yarn and leather used on a traditional dream catcher.

Sticks

Yarn (Multiple colors)

Beads

Feathers

String (For web for different look or the yarn can be used.)

You may want to demo this for your students to help them understand how to make their own dream catcher.

Students will select the sticks to make a circle with and the color yarn they would like for the hanger of dream catcher. Slowly bend the stick around until they meet. Use the yarn to wrap the ends together tight and tie. Leave the extra amount to use as a hanger.

Students will then pick their web sting and bead if they would like to put in the web as well. Students will need to tie of one end of the string then they will weave the web going diagonally around the web loop around the stick at each point. Loop at least once or twice. Then keep going until the web is as full as they would like. When they want to place a bead. They need to place it and tie the bead in place. One knot should hold it in place.

Students will then wrap the stick all the way around till it is 100% covered with the colors of their choice.

Student will then choose a color of yarn that hangs from the bottom of the dream catcher. They can do 1-3. The best look is 3. Students can add beads or feathers or both on the end of the yarn. Making this varied lengths also looks the best.

Being this are personal dream catcher let the students have the say.

Enjoy this lesson, students love it and usually want to make one for someone. A creative way to teach history and science, all through the Arts. Hands on learning established endured learning and understanding.

Lesson created by Fishbowl Designs. If you would like other lessons to help bring collaboration into your lesson. Contact us today.

I would have loved to do this when I was at school. Also, using art to learn other subjects is always a good idea. I’m actually tempted to do my own research into the full history of dream catchers. It could be used to teach about different cultures as well, about the purpose of the dreamcatcher and the reasons for it.

A use for index cards

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 11:49:55 -0400

kateann6:

25 Uses for Index Cards

Not all of these ideas are directly related to education, but several of them are and those that aren’t seem like great ways to help you organize your life outside of school.

I really like the idea of using index cards as a way to help students arrange papers or stories. They can write down the various parts of their stories on different cards and then rearrange them until they’re happy with the story line (or until it makes the most sense). The idea of creating a life size bored game is also very intriguing.

I love this idea. Similar to the ripping books idea, but the children create their own stories.
It is a much more interesting way of planning a story. What I also like is that the index cards could be mixed and matched if children intended to write more than one story. They may find an idea they had is better suited to a different storyline.

Again, group work could be incorporated by asking a class of children to write down an idea for something to happen in a story, using 1 index card each. Then children could work in groups and combine their ideas to create a short story.

(I also like this more than the ripping books idea as no books will be harmed! Haha)

This is such a simple but effective animation. Lesson idea -...

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 11:59:44 -0400

This is such a simple but effective animation.

Lesson idea - get the kids to create their own animation, whether it be a flipbook or if you have the software/facilities use stop motion or Adobe Flash :)

Get the children to work in small groups :)

What's your favourite lesson plan?

Sun, 22 Jul 2012 11:57:33 -0400

So, what’s your favourite lesson plan/lesson idea you have come across?

Facebook group!

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 11:56:05 -0400

Facebook group!:

Come and join us on Facebook!

kateann6: Challenge capsules for students who finish early....

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 06:03:00 -0400

kateann6:

Challenge capsules for students who finish early. After finishing their daily work the students can pick one of the capsules and then complete the task inside. I think it would be a cool idea to color code activities by the lids. That way the students knew that if they picked a capsule with a yellow lid they would be doing a writing activity, a blue lid for vocabulary, a red lid for reading, and so on.

I love this idea. Definitely one of my favourites that I’ve come across.

Placement

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 11:49:02 -0400

So I’ll be working in a primary school from September onwards as a teaching assistant. Awesome!

Educational but fun trips!

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 11:51:53 -0400

I love that I was able to find the teachers resources are accessible on the “Visit Sealife” page. These would be great to print out even if taking your own children to these places.

http://www.visitsealife.com/SiteImages/Assets/1/26/KS1ResourcePackTeacherWorkbook.pdf

http://www.sealifeadventure.co.uk/pdf/SLA-2011-TeachersPack.pdf